This invention relates to asynchronous compound bows of the type generally defined by U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,870, and the teachings and prior art reference citations of that patent are intended to be incorporated in this application by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,870 successfully addressed an entire performance-engineering matrix of 96 potential problems inherent in compound bows of the bi-synchronous genrexe2x80x99. This invention seeks to expand on the new asynchronous configuration defined in U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,870 by providing one or more means of further increasing mechanical advantage in bows whose primary leveraging components are configured generally in a manner defined by that invention.
Further increasing mechanical advantage in asynchronous compound bow systems provides benefits beyond those inherent in bows as defined by U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,870 by making it possible for archers to bend bows with stiffer primary limbs than would be possible with the same amount of effort using asynchronous compound bows as specifically defined in U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,870.
The scope of this application is limited to providing that additional measure of usefulness to persons electing to use asynchronous compound bows having dual-planar leverage inducing pulleys, a Pulley Return Energy Storage member or extension, and at least one actuator segment that is not planar with the longitudinal centerline of the bows primary limbs, i.e. asynchronous compound bows as generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,870.
It should be noted that some configurations shown in the drawings for this invention are similar to prior art approaches used in the early days of commercially viable compound bows. The early xe2x80x9cfour wheelerxe2x80x9d compounds utilized additional simple pulley elements attached to the primary limbs, but in a bi-synchronous configuration, wherein the actuator segments extended from a pulley at one end of the bow, past the horizontal centerline of the bow, to a point where they rolled over a simple pulley attached to the limb at the other end of the bow, and then terminated at a xe2x80x9cpylonxe2x80x9d that was also attached to opposite end of the riser from the pulley to which the actuator was attached.
All of the configurations shown in this invention achieve the same end result as the xe2x80x9cfour wheelersxe2x80x9d common to the early days of compound bows (circa 1970), but most importantly do so in an asynchronous configuration where the actuators do NOT extend past the horizontal centerline of the bow. Because the pulleys and actuators are deployed in an asynchronous configuration, all of the potential 64 problem areas associated with bi-synchronous compound bows are avoided.
In essence this invention seeks to demonstrate that past inventors went xe2x80x9ca bridge too farxe2x80x9d when deploying the extra pulleys in an essentially bi-synchronous configuration. By taking the route they did, bi-synchronous compound bow designers inadvertently accepted all 64 of the unavoidable conflicts that have been shown to be associated with compound bows of the bi-synchronous type.